On Monday, Apple introduced a new iPad Air powered by the M4 chip. The company states that the device is designed to be faster due to an updated neural engine and additional memory, enhancing its AI capabilities. This Air is reportedly 30% faster than the M3 iPad Air and 2.3 times faster than the M1 version.
Despite these upgrades, the new device retains its price of $599 for the 11-inch model and $799 for the 13-inch model. Educational customers enjoy a discount, with prices starting at $549 for the 11-inch iPad Air and $749 for the 13-inch model.
The iPad Air now features an 8-core CPU and a 9-core GPU, making it suitable for gaming and photo editing. Its unified memory has increased by 50% to 12GB, with memory bandwidth up to 120GB/s for faster AI model processing. The 16-core Neural Engine is advertised to be three times faster than the M1, aiding in on-device AI model execution.
This refreshed Air supports Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 6, powered by Apple’s new N1 and C1X connectivity chips. The sizes remain unchanged, measuring 9.74 x 7.02 inches for the 11-inch model and 11.04 x 8.46 inches for the 13-inch one.
Included are a front 12MP Center Stage camera and a 12MP Wide camera on the back. Apple accessories such as the Magic Keyboard and Apple Pencil are compatible with the device.
Pre-orders for the updated iPad Air start on Wednesday, March 4, via Apple.com and the Apple Store app in 35 countries and regions, including the U.S. Available finishes are blue, purple, starlight, and space gray, with storage options of 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB.
The iPad release is among several announcements this week, including the new iPhone 17e and expected MacBook upgrades. These launches are timed with Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Barcelona, where competitors like Samsung, Xiaomi, and Honor present their latest innovations and hardware.
Though Apple doesn’t attend MWC or other trade shows, it prefers to showcase its products at exclusive events, releasing new products with hands-on events in select cities this week.